I find it more and more exciting at the way Boxee is progressing on ATV.It started out as a sort of decent hack, but slow.. and I mean slow.  Over time it has become a bit faster, and more enjoyable.  It is still limted by the processor in ATV however it is becoming workable none the less.

The nice thing I like now is the Boxee remote.  If I am using Boxee on ATV or my Mac, the remote works like a champ.  I really do like the gesture mode for moving around.  It pretty much makes your iPhone a big touch pad to control Boxee.  I know, some of you may freak out on the idea of using a touch pad to control a media application, but trust me.. it is better than you would think.

I am still disappointed about the whole Hulu blocking by NBC.  They are complaining saying that if boxee wants to access their content, they need to display full commercial breaks like network TV would have.  My confusion is around their abillity to embed Hulu on any site, running the ads they sold into the Hulu spot.  If that is a problem, isn’t their entire model flawed?  I thought.. and may be wrongfully so.. that Hulu was about mass distribution, and trying to capture a new audience of non-commercial watching, DVR using, easily distracted younger generation.  I don’t think I am way off base here in that Boxee is most likely used by those who would watch Hulu.. and if Boxee becomes my entertainment system hub.. it looks as though ABC will be getting the advertisers the eyeballs they want.  (unless they start blocking as well)

Lately I have seen a bulk of emails going around with your standard jokes, etc.. While I enjoy a good email just like the rest of you, here are a couple of tips to think about.

1. For every forward that you just click and forward, you are doing TWO things wrong.

FIRST is the fact that you are now passing on every persons email address in the chain for a spammer to eventually harvest later if they ever see that thread. As a common courtesy, delete ALL emails from the thread before forwarding. It could also save someone the trouble if they sent it from their work email, and you let the whole world know.

SECOND is that for every layer of forward, email programs can indent and or do funny formatting. It starts to look like hell after a while. Also, so many people are getting mail on a mobile device these days, it will cause them issues. So.. clean up all forwards and send the email CLEAN.

2. Too many people forward on EVERY joke. For every joke email I have seen over the past nearly 15 years, I would say about 90% are just barely funny.. and only 1 in 10 are worth reading. I actually took the stance a while back asking people to NEVER forward a joke to me. What this amounted to initially was some hurt feelings I think, but then, over time.. the ONLY joke emails I got were ones people thought would really hit home with me. That was an OK compromise. I don’t want to be anti-social, but I do think the bulk of the emails cause more problems than good. (SEE #1 above)

OK. done with my rant/reminder.. just please remember.. Friends don’t let friends spam with the FWD button.

Tonight in all of my useless time spent on the interwebz, I came across something quite amazing in my book.  Free courseware through iTunes from various colleges.  This is an amazing concept in my view.

Apple allows anyone with a learning program to join, so long as they follow certain rules.  There are options for both internal and external courseware. This would allow for restrictions on courseware that colleges may want to restrict to only paying students or alumni as well as free courseware that some colleges have decided to release for free.  Learn more about iTunes U here.

The thing that is fascinating to me revolves around the colleges that are actually participating.  (NOTE:  These links will open iTunes) You can get courseware from Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, Oxford University and quite a few more.  I spent about 15-20 minutes glossing over various courseware clicking the download link as if I was in a shopping spree on a crappy gameshow from the late 90’s.  In a matter of a short time, I had roughly 350 hours of courses with a mix of audio and video at my download queue.  I guess I know what my bus rides to work will be like for the next year and a half.

This to me is where technology is really advancing the greater good for all.  For those who choose to participate that is.  On demand courses from major colleges at your disposal is a major win for those looking to learn more.  I for one am always up for self-improvement.. sort of like those GTD junkies who spend too much time looking for ways to Get Things Done.  Oh wait.. that is me too.

Google released a sync tool yesterday to allow you to sync your contacts and calendar to the iPhone. (and other devices)  To do this they implemented SyncML and Exchange server on the backend. If I had to guess, they really wrote their own wrapper on top of the Microsoft Exchange protocol, it isn’t in Google’s nature to  actually use COTS software. (Commercial Off the Shelf)

Before I dig more into this, here is the link to setup your iPhone using Sync. Don’t dive into it yet, read on…

So.  The first thing I wanted to do was sync the contacts from my Mac to Google.  Up to this point they have always been separate. Google used to do this goofy thing where everyone you emailed was being placed into your contacts.  To be clear, this was NOT a good choice. Their focus was on auto-complete and not user control of data.  (and long-term management)

STEP 1:  Enable for your domain
In order to activate the syncing, you need to turn it on for your domain.  If you are the administrator, you can go to the control panel and manage it from this link.  https://www.google.com/a/cpanel/YOURDOMAIN.COM/MobileSettings

STEP 2: Backup Your Online Contacts
Google Sync uses your “My Contacts” folder in the contacts section. The first thing I did was to create a new group called BACKUP.  I then moved everyone in My Contacts to that group and then removed them from My Contacts.  I now had a backup if I needed it and a clean place to sync to.

STEP 3: Turn on Syncing from iTunes
This step was pretty straight forward, rather than teach you.. just follow these instructions for Mac users and PC Users.  It was not painful. Once this is complete, move on.

STEP 4: Choose which calendars to Sync
If you have multiple calendars, you need to choose which calendars to sync.  You can do this by going to your Safari browser on your iPhone and checking the calendars you want to use.  The problem is Google tells you to visit http://m.google.com/sync to activate this.  If you are a Google Apps user you will know that you really have TWO accounts.

The first account is YOU@YOURDOMAIN.com.  This is also an alias to an actual “google account” that has to be a real GMail account.  So.. Go to m.google.com, click on “Google Apps User? tap to configure for your domain”.  If you have already activated your sync on the domain and you are logged in, you should see the calendars option show up.  If it does not, Sync once by trying to add an event on your phones Calendar and it should force a sync.  Then you should see the calendars.

KNOWN LIMITATIONS
Google does have some Known Limitations.  Check out their help section and read up just to be sure you know what you are getting into. The biggest limitation is that you setup the Exchange Account on your iPhone to make this happen.  Apple, in all of it’s genius, allows you to sync with ONE exchange account. If you have a corporate account then you have a choice to make.  Which one do you want syncing.

The other big limitation in my view is that they are using Exchange to sync Calendar and Contacts.. but not mail?  Seriously? OK, I get the whole tagging thing in GMail, but at some point the rest of the world does not map against this correctly for clients. In the short term lets use the IMAP “fake folder” view with tags.  I think it works fine that way.  Then push my email to me… thank you very much!

RESULTS
OK, that was a lot of rambling to get to my quick results.  This is after 1 day.. so I will update as I learn more.

First and foremost is the fact I DID seem to lose phone numbers and data.  I can not figure out where yet, but I definitely had numbers on my phone not recognizing contacts.  In theory, since they were sync’d from my mac to GMail and then OTA to my phone, they all should have made it.  No luck.

Second is the sync does not appear to be as fast as Exchange or Mobile Me Push.  It almost has to be forced at times.  So keep that in mind.  I will dig around a little more and see what I can find, but for now hopefully that helps someone out there.

The Optoma Pico Projector is my newest toy, and I gotta say it has the cool factor going on. Pocket sized projectors have been in the making for a while. I distinctly remember a conversation about 5 years ago with a colleague of mine. My recommendation was to put a projector in the lid of a laptop, this way you always had both handy! My co-worker, being far smarter than I, said he did not see that happening. Standard bulb sizes and the limitations around it were a problem.

In steps Pico Projectors. In these pocket sized projectors they typically use a DLP (Digital Light Processing) projector which is far different from a standard bulb projector. They come in a couple of formats.

First uses a laser to draw the image.  Microvision produces an image this way.  The benefit (as I understand) is that you never have to focus them and they are quite durable. The one from Microvision also uses a single mirror vs. multiple mirrors.

The second option uses LEDs and multiple mirrors to display.  While this (in theory) is inferior to the Microvision version, it came to market first.   It wins!  I got it for Christmas.

As for a review, first off, keep this in mind.  They are typically designed for PERSONAL media sharing.  Not corporate presentations.  The lumen count ranges between 7-11 on pico projectors vs. over 1000 on standard projectors.  Second, the input is NOT designed for a computer, it takes a NTSC or PAL video input.  This means the quality (compared to a monitor) is inferior.  I did buy the adapter to hook to my Macbook Pro as a test.. and I was underwhelmed.

Now, hook that bad boy to my iPhone (or an iPod) and I was able to get great results.  They say you can go up to 60 inches for the Optoma projector, but honestly I was able to get about 10 feet or more outside at night.  Can you say private drive in theater?

I will post more as I play with the device, but so far I am QUITE thrilled!

I have spent a couple weeks playing with Qik, the live streaming application available on Jailbroken iPhones.  I do have to say that overall, I am impressed.

I think one of the coolest features is the ability for people from the web to chat live with you while you are recording.  (if you are paying attention to that little box on the screen)  Honestly I have not done any live family feeds yet to othe family members, but that is where it would really come in handy.

Another great feature is the ability to send a notification to Twitter that you are broadcasting live.  That is quite cool.

Finally, the best thing so far from a technical standpoint has to be the fact that you can not only do this on WiFi, but on 3G it works quite well, and even on edge it will buffer your stream and eventually upload the entire movie.  Not great for those watching live.. but you get your video. Quite impressive.

I am sure over time these apps will only get better.  I’d love to see this app hacked and installed on one of those little Flip Cameras.  That’d be WAY better.  The camera on the iPhone is the main cause for crappy video.. no amount of software can compensate for that. 

Here is a sample clip from a hockey game.

OK, that may not be totally true, but sometimes it will be. As of today I am signed up with Qik.com for streaming live video from my iPhone. Why this fascinates me I don’t know. I guess it is the geek side of me wondering what all it took to get this platform going. I am impressed to say the least.

If you look at the top of the page you will see a link to the live stream. If the video on that page is moving, I am streaming live. If not.. you can still view old clips. the URL to remember is http://live.torgerson.tv if you want to get back there.

The thing I am hoping I find most useful is when we are on vacation, traveling, conferences, etc.. allowing people to see what I am up to. I can’t wait to try out a video that is not a test.

I know plenty of people have the same issue, but I am getting closer to sheer happiness and frustration at the same time.

My goal would be to have an all inclusive media box for my living room.  I want to be able to get my Rhapsody, rent movies, buy movies digitally, watch hulu, view pictures, view You Tube, etc. Is this too much to ask?    Honestly we don’t watch a ton of television.  I often wonder for the few shows we watch would it be worthwhile to just hook up my laptop, or just buy them over apple TV . It really is only a couple of shows I REALLY care about.

Movies are another issue.  I don’t rent many movies per year.  Up until I had Apple TV, it quite literally was 2-3 movies a year max.  I had cancelled my Netflix account about 4-5 years ago because I had the same movies for 6 months and NEVER watched them.  (at $20 a month).  Now with the ability to get things “on the fly”, I am more willing to kill some time watching a movie. No planning ahead, it works for me.  Problem is I don’t have a way to stream Netflix, and my rentals only come through Apple TV. Now I am at my price/value comparison point.  Is it worth Netflix is I can watch more on the fly?  I don’t have a way to currently without using my Laptop.  Apple TV is $4-$5 per rental for HD movies.. if I really kick into high gear, that gets expensive.

Throw in Boxee.  Boxee allows me to get many things from the internet onto my Apple TV through a quick little hack someone built.  It is great, yet they tease us with the ALMOST able to play Netflix.. but the 1Ghz processor and the 256MB Ram in the Apple TV.  Quite crippling.

Did I mention I have Sonos again? The Rhapsody streaming music is phenomenal.  I can do various zones in my house and control it all from my iPhone. WOW.  Hmm, wait, yet another thing to hook up downstairs.

Honestly I am at the point in my life where digital is where I want to be.  Call me “new fangled”, but those 1’s and 0’s are oh so pretty when it comes to working well and not having to manage Jewel cases, movie binders, etc.  I mostly buy movies now over Apple TV.  I have purchased a couple of episodes of TV through them, I buy music through Amazon (even though my wife can’t say no to iTunes on the iPhone).  Really, digital all the way. Even in our cars we jack in iPods and iPhones now for music.

If anyone has other suggestions on single unit solutions, let me know.  I believe currently I am destined to have my MacBook Pro, Sonos, Apple TV, Boxee, DirecTV and NO Netflix.. just because I cant bring myself to touch DVD’s  

Yes.. completely random rant and all over the map.. I know.

If you like music, and are still carrying around a separate MP3 player.. my guess is you are in denial on the progress for mobile phones and their music capabilities!  OK, or you just like a separation of church and state for music and business.

Device Options

For those looking to converge your devices and have a single device to get you through the day, you have a few options. I’ll briefly mention them and make my recommendations.

iPhone

The iPhone (in case you live in a cave) is Apple’s answer to this problem.  The company with the best selling portable music players has an amazing answer to taking your music on the go.  The iPod integration is fantastic.  It allows you easy access to your albums, artists, playlists and also has the ability to do podcasts, videos, tv and audio books.  It really does an amazing job.

To get music on the iPhone is easy, and accomplished a couple of ways.  The first is by connecting to your computer and syncing with iTunes.  Anything in iTunes can be synced over.  The other way is using the iTunes store right on the phone.  I gotta say, on WiFi looking for songs, finding them and adding to your library has never been as easy as this.  It even syncs the purchased songs back to your computer once you connect back home.  Amazing.

The downside?  iTunes DRM music. My wife and I each have different accounts.  I think it is “fair use” to purchase a song and also have my wife listen to it.  Short of burning a disc for her and letting her re-rip it for her iPhone, there is no other way. (And that way is not the legal way) . I would love to see Apple allow a couple things on the phone, neither of which they would ever allow.

First I’d like to see and Amazon DRM free store.  Getting non-drm’d music for my wife and I to use together would be a dream.  Unfortunately it would cut into iTunes sales and they would never let that occur.

Second I’d like to see Rhapsody on the phone.  I have a Rhapsody subscription for my Sonos system and I love it.  If I could sync my Rhapsody to go like I do with my Sansa player, but on my phone.. ahh yeah.  Again.. no chance in.. well, you know.

G1

The G1 is a good device with integrated music player.  (actually it is a download from what I understand to get the music player in place)  Anyway.. it does have an Amazon MP3 store on the phone. This is far better than the iTunes DRM music, but it does lack a little in usability.  It will be better over time I am sure.

A big downside to the G1 is the proprietary headphone jack.  Seriously, who thought this was a good idea?  The 3.5mm headphone jack is standard on everything from a tape walkman to a portable navigation device.  This is actually even worse than Apple’s first Faux Paux that was a recessed 3.5mm jack that most headphones would not fit in.  There are adapters in both cases, but seriously people, this is NOT a good product decision.  Proprietary is so 1999.

Verizon VCast Phones

Verizon partnered up with Rhapsody to take the VCast music to the phones.  I think this is a great setup if you are looking for a basic device that also doubles for music, unfortunately most of the devices lack more of the traditional “smart phone” funcitonality.

AT&T Phones

AT&T has paired up with Napster for it’s “to go” service.  I don’t have a whole lot of details on this yet but it appears they are launching quite a few devices in this space.  I honestly don’t know how many people will buy into this though, if you are on AT&T already, why not just get the iPhone?

Blackberry

RIM has done a good job moving from the business only devices to now marketing a mobile lifestyle device around the new lines.  I’d say starting with the 8100 Pearl, the 8300, 8800 and now the Storm, they have a great suite of phones that are good for the business user as well as your personal device.

The media players are awkward on these devices, they do work though.  I never really got into using my phone as a music player when I had Blackberry devices, it just was not as smooth.  I think the Storm makes that better.

Sony Walkman Phones

Sony was the company that launched the portable music craze.  Remember old skool cassette walkmans?  Oh, and do you remember that 3 months when CD Walkmans were popular?  They are a little behind the times, but cranking out more music phones all the time.  The Sony Walkman Phones are quite useful it appears as a phone and music player.  Most have external storage which is great.  I personally have not spent much time with these, but they are a logical device to consider.

Recommendation

I’d say if you are into music, and really into music on the go, the iPhone is the best option.  I don’t know that many people who don’t already have iPods.  This is a natural extension, and you get a great phone with it.  (not to mention tons of application options)

The other devices really do pale in comparison for true music on the go.  The G1 is probably your 2nd best bet.  I really think the G1 is the 2nd best phone out there currently.  The Storm is a close 3rd, but Amazon store on the go is amazing.

If you have any other thoughts, let me know.. this is just my view, and only for the sake of thinking it through to ensure I know where I really stand.  For the record, I have an iPhone.

This show was one of about 200 on an evening with the guys out kneeboarding and wakeboarding.  As the sun was setting I would wait to get a good line up with the sun behind the kneeboarder.  Finally I got a good shot.